Silence is Deafening

Despite Frankie Valley's suggestion, it's not much fun for us International Addicks right now. With no-one to discuss Charlton's crisis with, I'm resigned to writing more emotion-laden prose from foreign climes (1°c and sunny) and hoping I'm not completely out-of-tune with those a bit closer to the action.

Last night I was so wound-up by our performance that I knew I wouldn't sleep if I didn't shake off some adrenaline. So despite having imbibed a bottle of white wine, I put on my running shoes and at some ungodly hour ran for four miles whilst the wife desperately leafed through the Yellow Pages under 'A' for 'Asylums'.

It didn't work especially well though and I barely slept, occasionally grabbing a few minutes of dream-charged sleep (usually involving Peter Varney for some godforsaken reason). At least I was kept company by the reams of comments hitting my Blackberry via my blog that reassured me that the way I was feeling about Charlton wasn't an over-reaction.

I'll reiterate that the problem with Charlton is that I have no choice but to continue supporting them. If my car packed up, I'd trade it in for a new one. If my job sucked, I'd apply for another one. And if my wife made me feel this angry and upset I'd kick her out the door quicker than you can say, "trailer park trash."

And yet still, here we are at 1.30pm UK time and the silence emanating from the club is deafening. Perhaps Les Reed still has the players locked in the dressing room whilst the likes of Jerome Thomas desperately text their mates asking if they'll still be at Sugar Reef when he finally gets out?

What is taking them so long? There shouldn't need to even be a Board-level discussion about what needs to be done. And as I said last night, if Reed himself had a modicum of dignity he would have resigned already, preferably in front of the media that he so shamefully evaded last night. I'm disturbed by the incredulous amount of self-belief that Reed has (based it seems solely upon technical know-how) whilst his unmotivated team defile the Charlton shirt. Didn't he hold a promising interactive discussion after the Spurs game? Look how far that took us.

If the Board avoid the obvious conclusion from recent events, solely because they don't want to face even more upheaval, then they will be failing in their role as the club's fiduciaries. Better to acknowledge the farcical decision to promote Reed now than allow him to waste more of the club's precious money in January in the faint hope that he can rebuild us with 'his team.'

As has been noted elsewhere, the players (one or two excepted) deserve nothing but repugnance for the crisis we now find ourselves in. However to somehow describe Les Reed as helpless in the face of such utter dispassion and apathy from his squad would be absurdly generous to an already well-paid man. Ask yourself, if the club had parachuted Neil Warnock or Adrian Boothroyd or Chris Coleman into the role in November, would they have got more out of the same group of players? Perhaps not in quality, but they wouldn't have dared return to the dressing room with one of those 'real managers' in charge after the lack of effort shown last night.

In the unlikely event that a club representative has the courtesy to address the media (and the fans) about last night's events, I hope they will demonstrate a rare act of good sense by confirming Reed is no longer 'head coach.'